I just got back from Florida yesterday. The trip was fantastic. These first two pics are of the male and female marathon winners. The chick was really hot! I'll take the next few days to describe the trip, but, I'll start off with a race report. I hope this race report convinces you to add the Sarasota Marathon (or half marathon) to your to-do list because it's worth it. And Florida is a little piece of heaven in the winter. I did two days of camping at very different, but wonderful state parks.
I flew into Tampa Bay on Saturday morning with my mystery guest. She doesn't like me to write about her, so, I'll refrain. We drove the 40-minutes to Sarasota. The hotel was only about a half-mile from the starting line, so that was convenient. The race started at 6am, which translates to 5am KC time. That means I had to get up by 5am (4am KC). I prepared myself for this by getting up at progressively earlier time for the last week. I usually get out of bed about 7am, and this little exercise taught be an important lesson, I like to get up early and get things rolling. I've made a point of getting up no latter than 5:30am since then. Sometimes you have to be willing to make changes in your life. I'm going to give the early to bed early to rise theme a chance.
The expo was fairly cool. It was held a large YMCA. This was the inaugural race (that means first) for Sarasota, and it was what I'd call a medium-to-small race. There about 450 marathoners and 1,100 half-marathoners. I think they put a cap on it for some reason. I even had to overnight my registration on Wednesday to get into the race. There was a very good article in their Sunday paper on the founder. I'll have to look up her name. She was very helpful with my registration.
They didn't have an organized pasta party, so, we looked for a nice Italian restaurant to load up on some pasta. We had a two-for-one coupon at a very nice restaurant on Siesta Key. We had to wait a half-hour to be seated, so we had a drink at a bayside, outdoors bar and watched the boats go by. I had a Siesta Key Iced tea ( as opposed to a Long Island Iced Tea ). The dinner was fabulous. We had a nice Pinot Noir with the meal.
I know you shouldn't really drink the night before a race, but, it did have a good effect. I fell asleep with my glasses on at 8pm. I woke up at 4am feeling
damn good. That gave me a full two hours to prepare for the race. I jogged the half-mile over to the race. It was still pitch dark at that time. The race started on the grounds of the Wringly Brothers fine arts museum. A very beautiful place. I couldn't really see the nice buildings and art work on the grounds until the finish of the race. But, there were still a lot of cool features. There was a large Banyan Tree grove that you ran through at the start of the race. The tree's hanging root systems made for a very surreal atmosphere in the darkness. The had a couple of portable spot lights out on the grounds, but, otherwise, the race started in total darkness. Which I found as very unique and kind of cool.
With my recent hip injuries, I knew that about the best I could hope for in the race was a 1:30, and only under the best of conditions. Well, the temperature was a crisp 52 degrees at that time of the morning, perfect. I got a full 8-hours of restful sleep, so, I was feeling pretty good.
At the start of the race, the announcer made the comment, "Has anybody seen
our Kenyon? If so, please direct him to the front of the starting line." We all got a kick out of that. I guess no marathon is complete unless they have a token Kenyon. In a way, I think it's wrong that you have to pay a guy big bucks to run in your race, and, at the same time, guarantee that a young American, who gets nothing, that he will finish no better than second. Whatever.
There was also an interesting story about the guy who sang the Star spangled Banner. For years, he had sang it before each Reds game (they had their spring training there), He was 89-years old, and this was going to be the very last time he sang it for any sporting event. He had an opriatic voice that was beautiful and strong. It was very touching.
Finally, the starting horn. I was toward the front, so it wasn't very congested, but, I tripped on a curb in the darkness. I almost went down, but kept my feet. We went from the museum grounds and into a residential area. There were a few people standing in front of their yards with their flashlights to cheer us on. The pack quickly spread out and I was pretty much by myself in the darkness. Like I said, the race in the darkness aspect was kind of cool.
The air was filling my lungs, the blood was coursing through my veins. This is what I live for, this is what makes me feel alive. The course went by the water and you could see the lights reflecting off the bay from the distance. It was very pretty. I was maintaining a consistent 6:48 pace for the first few miles and felt great. I was right on pace for a 1:30.
It finally stated to lighten up after the 4th mile, and, I think the sun actually rose about mile 5. Then, we came to a bridge across a bay. This would be the only hill on the course, but, it was significant, and fairly long. Then down the other side. This was an out-and-back course, and the turnaround point was right after the bridge, so, you had to go back up the steep bridge almost immediately. This was also the first time the wind came into play. I was not only running up a steep, half-mile hill, I was doing it into the wind.
This was the only tough part of the course. Other than that, it was flat as a pancake, a very fast course. This was also the beginning of another interesting aspect of the out-and-back course, I was now running into the upcoming runners. It was nothing but miles of tanned, belly-button rings. There really wasn't any organized path going back, so, I was almost trampled by the oncoming crowd. Death by belly-button ring clad women. What a way to go! I like out-and-back courses for this reason, you get a lot of encouragement from the runners coming up. And most of these races are loaded with hard-bodies.
I was still on pace to hit 1:30 with just 3-miles to go, but, I had to finish at the same pace. It was now a race against the clock. I had no room for error. I had to finish strong to meet my goal. The first 10-miles were pretty smooth, but, now, I was feeling the effort. I had to run my ass off to give myself a chance of meeting my goal of breaking 1:30. I didn't start my watch until I crossed the starting line, but, the official race time went by the gun time. I thought I finished with 8 seconds to spare, but, my official time put me just 1-second under my goal. Perfect. I loved that.
I ended up with a 1:29:59. I won a 4th place medal in my age group. I was very happy with that. They had a post race party at the Salty Dog with free beer, but, we had to get to the ferry out to Coya Costa State Park. That's tomorrow's blog. There will be some great pics coming up.
I finally gave up and bought some web space so I could upload pictures to my blog. These are a few from my Florida camping trip. After the race, my partner and I headed to Coya Costa state park. We weren't going to veg out on some crowded beach. We were off to experience the Florida that the early Seminole experienced. Coya Costa is an island (key actually) that you have to be ferried out to. The weather in early March is just about perfect for camping in FL. The first thing to great us at our camp site was a 6-foot rat snake. I knew we weren't in Kansas any more. I reserved a site on-line about two-weeks in advance for $18. That's a lot better than the $175 you typically pay for a room on the beach. And we were right on the beach. Pick site #8 if you go. It has it's own little palm tree cove where you can nesttle your tent. They say that you can't bring alcohol on the state parks, but, the rangers say they are pretty lax on that, as long as you keep it on your camp site. 
